In Search of the Resilient Sahelian: Reflections on a Fashionable Notion
Resilience is not Survival
T
his approach has two main im-
plications. First, survival and
resilience should not be con-
fused. It is therefore important not to
see resilience everywhere; survival is
not the same as resilience. From this
point of view, the return, after a shock,
to an initial disadvantageous situation
is not resilience, but at most a form of
resistance. The expression “resilient
poor” is nothing more than a medio-
cre oxymoron. And in that sense, most
of Sahelian peasants and breeders, liv-
ing in difficult places, coping with pro-
tracted crisis, unable to invest for a bet-
ter future, cannot be seen as resilient.
Second, since it is necessary to study
household trajectories, we need to use
specific methodologies. Trajectories
can be identified through qualitative
studies, based on network analysis
and life stories, and the reconstitution
of individual and collective histories.
However, past practices can be ineffec-
tive in the present context, hence the
interest of not only reconstructing tra-
jectories a posteriori but also follow-
ing them in real time. This requires the
use of observatory methodologies. An
observatory often turns out to be dif-
ficult to maintain, on the one hand in
regions experiencing prolonged crises,
where there is a high level of insecuri-
ty and fairly unpredictable population
displacement, and on the other hand
when there is a lack of funding, since
funding bodies are reluctant to pay for
these types of methodologies.
Linking Resilience
and Sustainability
T
his section explores another im-
portant and frequently ignored
question: is resilience always
a good thing? In order to answer this
question, we need to look more close-
ly at different scales of resilience, and at
household practices and their sustain-
ability.
Focus on Household Practices
W
ithin international insti-
tutions, resilience is often
considered at various stages,
from the individual to the national. This
desire to simultaneously address multi-
ple scales and their interaction clearly
increases the difficulty of operationaliz-
ing the notion; the resilience of a beaten
child is not the same as the resilience of
a